A Caching Model of Operating System Kernel Functionality

Operating system research has endeavored to develop micro-kernels that provide modularity, reliability and security improvements over conventional monolithic kernels. However, the resulting kernels have been slower, larger and more error-prone than desired. These efforts have also failed to provide sufficient application control of resource management required by sophisticated applications. This paper describes a caching model of operating system functionality as implemented in the Cache Kernel, the supervisor-mode component of the V++ operating system. The Cache Kernel caches operating system objects such as threads and address spaces just as conventional hardware caches memory data. User-mode application kernels handle the loading and writeback of these objects, implementing application-specific management policies and mechanisms. Experience with implementing the Cache Kernel and measurements of its performance on a multiprocessor suggest that the caching model can provide competiti...

• Type: Conference
• Year: 1994
• Where: OSDI
• Authors: David R. Cheriton, Kenneth J. Duda
• Keywords: Cache Kernel, Conventional Monolithic Kernels, Operating System, Operating Systems, OSDI 1994